154 lines
7.8 KiB
Plaintext
154 lines
7.8 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: A NEST OF INFO ON GULFBREEZE UFOs FILE: UFO1643
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PART 29
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TIMES, St. Petersburg, FL - July 8, 1990
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DEBUNKERS vs BELIVERS
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Tales of another world are not alien to the national UFO
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convention.
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by Chris Lavin
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Times Staff Writer
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PENSACOLA - Sitting in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel,
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Gilbert Landis turned to the person next to him and , without a
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giggle, said this:
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"I'm here because 10,500 years ago my wife and I made a
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mistake."
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A few seats over, Clark McClelland from Orlando was talking
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about secret autopsies performed on alien creatures and Nazi
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scientists who escaped to secret Antarctic bases where they have
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been building flying saucers.
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Just down the hall, a preacher lectured about UFOs and the
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Bible. The parting of the Red Sea, he said may have been caused
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by the propulsion system of an alien spacecraft.
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So it went during the weekend at the national convention of
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the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) - an annual gathering of
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scientists and others who belive the aliens have landed.
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If this was any other year in any other city, the convention
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would probably drift off like a UFO, an oddity never to be heard
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of again. But this was Pensacola, and it seems most of the
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population of nearby Gulf Breeze had reported a UFO sighting in
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recent years.
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So the conventation took on special meaning - to those who
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belive in the extra terrestrial and those who spend their time
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challenging UFO believers.
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Specifically, most of the Believers and Debunkers came
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loaded for a showdown over photographs taken by Gulf Breeze
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builder Ed Walters. The photos purported to show a UFO that
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Walters says hovered over his home, paralyzed him with a blue
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beam and left him and his wife, Francis, scared and bewildered.
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Since the publication of his book - titled "The Gulf Breeze
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Sightings: The Most Astounding Multiple Sightings of UFOs in U.S.
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History - Walters has been accused by Debunkers of using a model
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and trick photography to perpetrate a fraud.
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The battling has been, well, out of this world.
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"It's the wildest, most preposterious story I've ever
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heard," says Philip J. Klass, a longtime UFO debunker. "Just
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think of it. Multiple visits to the same house, little creatures,
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voices in his head, talking about bananas."
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Yes, Walters says, it does seem odd. But he insists the
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evidence and sightings by hundreds of others, including a Gulf
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Breeze town council member, corroborate his story.
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Walter's story began November 11, 1987, when he saw the UFO
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and snapped photographs. This encounter was close and continual -
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recurring through numerous sightings during the next three years.
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Walters says the UFO called him "Zehass," and he recounted
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conversations apparently coming from the UFO. In one encounter,
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Walters told of hearing alien voices speaking in Spanish
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complaining about being fed too many bananas. "I know this sounds
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bizarre," Walters wrote, "and I was tempted not to tell about it,
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but bananas are what they were talking about."
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Walters says he was hungry for an explaination of what he
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had seen. He notified MUFON investigators and passed his photos
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on to the Gulf Breeze Sentinel, a small weekly paper that reports
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UFO sightings.
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But as word of Walters' photos spread, more and more
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residents of this Gulf Coast town reported seeing the UFO.
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Walters soon learned a quick lesson about UFO sightings: The
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person who says he or she saw the UFO will be closely examined.
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Walters was plunged into the little-known but continuous war
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between the Believers and the Debunkers - both of whom questioned
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Walters for their own purposes.
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When the analysis was done, the outcome was no suprise.
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MUFON investigators backed Walters and his photos, skeptics such
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as Klass were not convinced. "You know, Walters is a convicted
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felon," Klass says. "Yes, car theft and forgery. He's slick, real
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slick."
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But Walters says his problems with the law dated back to his
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teen years. As an adult, he says, he has been a successful
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builder and a pillar of the community.
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With Gulf Breeze being the hottest UFO spot in the world,
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MUFON decided to bring its annual conference to Pensacola. When
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the 600 or so MUFON members arrived Friday, they found a city
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split over the reality of UFOs, but unified on the economic
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impact of this convention.
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A Gulf Breeze jewlery company had created "Gulf Breeze
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Sighting" watches and medallions. There were T-shirts featuring
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Walters' blue beam, and visitors could pay to be photographed
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with a life-sized statue of the Gulf Breeze alien.
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But even as the conference began, it was clear west Florida
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wasn't going to claim a special place in UFO history without a
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big fight.
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In recent weeks 22-year-old Tommy Smith of Pensacola has
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told reporters he helped Walters create double-exposure UFO
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photographs. And the Pensacola News Journal reported that a UFO
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model similar to Walters' photos was found hidden in a house
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formerly owned by Walters.
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But in an impassioned speech, Walters said evidence proves
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Smith's claims are false. The model, Walters says, was found to
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be constructed by materials discarded from his construction
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business in 1989, two years after he made his initial
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photographs.
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Debunkers, Walters alleges, constructed and planted the
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model to discredit him.
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The new allegations have stirred MUFON to reopen its
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analysis of the Gulf Breeze sightings, but if the atmosphere at
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this convention is any indicator, don't expect investigators to
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undermine Walters' claim.
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This convention drew a wide variety of UFO types. But
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virtually all shared a strong belief in UFOs and an equally
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strong belief that the U.S. government is hiding vast storehouses
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of information on UFOs and alien life.
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There were scientists such as Brian T. O'Leary, a former
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NASA astronomer and Princeton University instructor, who says his
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own psychic experiences have convinced him that the United States
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needs a new science that can explain psychic phenomena and,
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perhaps, UFOs.
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"I began commuinicating telepathically, I experienced moving
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out of my body and floating over cities, I healed myself with my
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mind," O'Leary said.
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And then there were other Believers who lacked O'Leary's
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academic credentials, but had stories to tell.
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Landis, for example, the 10,500-year-old San Diego resident,
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said NASA and the U.S. government is secretly aware of a
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60-member "Universal Association of Planets" whose spaceships are
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Earth's UFOs.
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"You know what the astronauts saw on the back side of the
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moon?" Landis said. "There was a refueling station and a
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structure that looked very much like a hotel. And the canals on
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Mars? Dry docks for space ships."
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Landis' treatise on the history of the universe was
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interrupted by McClelland, who wants everyone to know that Earth
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is simply a giant genetic experiment being orchestrated by alien
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life.
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But all at this convention seemed unified by a belief there
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is something out there and we all need to learn more about it.
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Many are like George Kruse, a free-lance photographer from
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California who was drawn to MUFON when he discovered during a
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hypnosis session that he had been abducted by aliens.
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"I was taken and I couldn't move," Kruse says. "They looked
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down my throat and inserted a needle (into me). I remember I
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didn't like it."
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |